182 PALEOBOTANY [Bot. Absts., Vol. VI, 



ingly useful summary to date, the authors bring no very critical experience to their task. 

 They have proposed scarcely any new species, and have greatly reduced the number of recorded 

 species from these Miocene deposits by combining a great many of Gceppert's ill-advised spe- 

 cific proposals. Thus the following which stood as species in the literature, mostly names 

 of Gceppert disappear into the synonymy: 10 of Salix, 6 of Populus, 1 of Juglans, 1 of Myrica, 

 6 of Quercus, 1 of Castanea, 4 of Platanus, 4 of Acer, 1 of Rhus, 3 of Dombeyopsis, 1 of Trapa, 

 2 of Alnus, 7 of Betula, 3 of Carpinus and 7 of Ulmus. The woods described from the Silesia 

 browncoal number 18 species and are referred to the following genera: Podocarpoxylon, 

 Cedroxylon, Piceoxylon, Pinuxylon, Glyptodroloxylon, Taxodioxylon, Cupressinoxylon, and 

 Juniperoxylon. A key to the wood structure of the recent and fossil Cupressinoxyla should 

 prove useful to anatomists, especially those interested in fossil woods.— E. W. Berry. 



124S. Kryshtofovich. A. A new fossil palm and some other plants of the Tertiary flora of 

 Japan. Jour. Geol. Soc. Tokyo 27: 1-20. PI. 13-15. 1920. — Describes fossil plants from Shio- 

 gama and Tsukinoki in the province of Rikuzen and from Akihomura near Sendai. Species 

 of Sabal, Juglans, Fagus, Castanea, Ficus, Liquidambar and Vitiphyllum are recorded from 

 the former and Taxodium, Betula and Alnus from the latter. — There is a helpful discussion 

 of the age of these and other Tertiary plant beds of Japan and the author concludes that the 

 aforementioned florules along with those previously known from Azano, Kayakusa, Ogoya, 

 Akiho, Shiogama, etc., are of Miocene age: those of Shiobara and Mogi are Pliocene: and 

 those of Ishikari and Shitakara are Eocene. — E. W. Berry. 



1249. Kubart, B. Uber den Verfall palaobotanischer Forschung in den Landern deutscher 

 Zunge. [Upon the decline of paleobotanical researches in German speaking countries.] Osterr. 

 Bot. Zeitg. 1919: 233-237. 



"&• 



1250. Neuweiler, E. Die Pflanzenreste aus den Pfahlbauten am Alpenquai in Zurich 

 und von Wollishofen sowie einer interglazialen Torfprobe von Niederweningen ( Zurich). [The 

 plant remains of the Lake dwellings at the Alpine quay in Zurich, from Wollishofen and from 

 an interglacial peat boring at Niederweningen.] Viertelsjahrsschrift. Naturf. Ges. Zurich. 

 64 Jg. 1919: 617-648. 1920. 



1251. Reid, Mrs. Eleanor M. On two preglacial floras from Castle Eden (County Dur- 

 ham). [Abstract.] Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 6: 247-248. 1920. — Fossil seeds were examined 

 from clays found in fissures of the Magnesian Limestone at Castle Eden. The clays had been 

 carried by the Scandinavian ice from the area now occupied by the North Sea. The study 

 proved the presence of two seed-bearing clays of different ages. A comparison of the Cro- 

 merian, Teglian, Castle-Eden, Reuverian, and Pont-de-Gail floras on the bases of the percent- 

 ages of all exotics, and of Chinese-North American exotics (i. e., plants now inhabiting the Far 

 East of Asia or North America but not Western Europe), in each flora proved the Reuverian 

 to be Lower Pliocene and the Castle-Eden flora to be Middle Pliocene. Therefore a study of 

 fossil seeds made possible the discrimination of strata intimately mixed and the determination 

 of their geological ages. The Castle-Eden Pliocene is characterized by the number of extinct 

 and exotic forms and by the absence of aquatic species. Therefore the area now forming part 

 of the North Sea probably was an upland valley four hundred feet above the Middle Pliocene 

 sea-level. [From author's abstract of a paper read at a meeting of the Geological Society.] 

 — H. H. Clum. 



1252. Reid, Mrs. Eleanor M. A comparative review of Pliocene floras based on the 

 study of fossil seeds. [Abstract.] Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 6: 248. 1920. — By plotting as 

 a curve the percentages of the exotics and of the Chinese-North American exotics from the 

 Cromerian, Teglian, Castle-Eden, Reuverian, and Pont-de-Gail floras, it was found that all 

 lay along a smooth curve, indicating changes in the Pliocene and Miocene Ages. The posi- 

 tion of the floras in time, as indicated by the curve, agrees with that determined by paleon- 

 tology. The destruction and supplanting of the Chinese-North American exotic flora began 

 about the Middle Miocene when the Europea and Asiatic Alpine ranges attained their maxi- 



